Key Grading Dates for Fall 2015• Wednesday, October 07, 2015 [Midnight]: Last day to post midterm grades.• Wednesday, November 25, 2015: First day to post final grades.• Tuesday, December 15, 2015 [Midnight]: Last day to post final grades.• Full grading schedule and all grading information is also available on the University Registrar’s Grade Reporting Website.

Non-Attendance Grading Reminders• In order for The University to comply with U.S. Department of Education regulations, instructors are now required select one of the following reasons when a grade of “F” (or “NC”) is assigned as a midterm or final grade: Earned, Never Attended, or Stopped Attending.• Faculty should assign grades of “F” (Never Attended) or “F” (Stopped Attending) as soon as it becomes evident that the student has never attended or stopped attending class. Midterm grading will remain available through October 28th for this purpose.• “F” (Stopped Attending) grades will also require the submission of a Last Attend Date.• More information on non-attendance grading.

Midterm Grading Reminders• To post midterm grades go to myBama. Under the Faculty tab, go to Faculty Grade Assignment. Select the ‘Midterm Grades’ option and click ‘Go’. If using Blackboard Learn, you will see a button allowing you to import your grades.• Midterm grades must be posted for ALL students in 100- & 200-level courses.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Alabama is a founding member in a national effort to support minority women and girls interested in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields, the White House recently announced.Led by Arizona State University’s Center for Gender Equity in Science and Technology, the National Academic STEM Collaborative is a consortium of 19 institutions of higher education and nonprofit partners committed to identify and scale effective, evidence-based strategies to improve STEM diversity in the nation’s colleges and universities with a special focus on women and girls of color from under-represented communities.“At The University of Alabama, we teach students early about the excitement of STEM through our K-12 outreach programs and continue our efforts through the graduate student level, emphasizing the joy of research discoveries,” said Dr. Patricia Sobecky, UA associate provost for academic affairs.Among the best opportunities for future job growth are for occupations in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, commonly referred to by the acronym STEM.Occupations in STEM, which require education and training in one and/or more of these fields, make up more than one out of every 10 jobs in the United States. Moreover, the wages in these occupations are approaching nearly twice the U.S. average, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.The University of Alabama has a host of programs designed and run by faculty and staff who provide educational training, research opportunities and mentoring in STEM disciplines for underrepresented groups including girls, women and minorities.The White House Council for Women and Girls announced that UA is one of 10 academic institutions and nine organizational partners to be part of the collaborative. Members of the collaborative will help assemble a tool kit and online workshops, train hiring managers and key personnel in addressing bias, track the experiences and support of women of color in STEM majors and build a database of programs that help them.“We need to transform the way STEM is taught,” said Jo Handelsman, associate director of the White House Office of Science Technology and Policy. “By encouraging innovations in STEM teaching, addressing the issue of bias, and also awareness of the types of teaching we use, we are trying to promote positive images of scientists and engineers and promote new ways of teaching that will benefit a broad group of diverse students.”Along with Arizona State and UA, the educational institutions are: Amherst College, City College of New York, Diné College, Maricopa Community Colleges, Spelman College, University of California–Riverside, University of Maryland–Baltimore County, and the Project on Race & Gender in Science & Medicine at the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University.The nonprofit institutions are: American Indian Higher Education Consortium, Arizona STEM Network, Iridescent, National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators, National Math + Science Initiative, National Society of Black Engineers, OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates, STEM4Us! and the Surge Assembly.

The University of Alabama, a student-centered research university, is experiencing significant growth in both enrollment and academic quality. This growth, which is positively impacting the campus and the state's economy, is in keeping with UA's vision to be the university of choice for the best and brightest students. UA, the state's flagship university, is an academic community united in its commitment to enhancing the quality of life for all Alabamians.

The Faculty Senate is seeking nominations of tenured faculty who are not administrators to serve a three year term (1-1-16 to 12-31-18) on the UA Mediation Committee to replace Angela Paschal (College of Human Environmental Sciences) and Kevin Corcoran (Social Work) whose terms expire on 12-31-15. The Faculty Senate will hold the election during the week of September 29 through October 6, 2015. The Senate will announce the winners during its October 20th meeting. Nominees cannot be from Arts and Sciences since no more than two faculty representatives may be from any one academic division. The University Mediation Committee is composed of six faculty with tenured appointments who are not administrators and two administrators. All grievances by the faculty are directed to the University Mediation Committee as the first step in the grievance process. The committee makes the determination of grievability and attempts to mediate and solve the grievance. See the full description of duties and composition of the committee at http://committees.ua.edu/mediation-committee.html.Nominations should include rank and division of the nominee as well as a brief written statement, one to two paragraphs in length, from the nominee giving reasons for his or her interest in serving on the Mediation Committee. Faculty senators will have access to the written statements prior to voting.Please send nominations by 5:00pm, September 24, 2015 to Charlotte Herrin, cbherrin@sw.ua.edu.Charlotte Herrin and Robert “Bob” Riter, Co-Chairs, Faculty Senate Governance Committee

TheDepartment of Human Resourceswill offer an additional orientation session for faculty on Sept. 11 at 8:30 a.m. New faculty should attend an orientation session in order to better understand available health benefits and learn how to enroll in the plans for which they are eligible.